Half to milton claek



(No Model.)

- G. R. ELLIOTT.- STORE SERVIGE SYSTEM.

No. 283,088. Patented Aug. 14, 1883.

N. PUERS. Pbolo-Ulhognyh-r. Waahinglan. 04 c.

UNITED STATES GILBERT R.

PATENT j OFFICE.

ELLIOTT, on BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, AssIcNoE or oNE- HALF To MILTON CLARK, or sAME PLACE.

I'STORE-SERVICESYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 283,088, dated August 14,. 1883.

Application filed June 12,1883 (N0 model.)

To all whom/it may concern:

Be it known that I, GILBERT R. ELLIOT a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing in Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Store-Service Systems, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in storeservice systems in which cash and'parcels are conveyed back and forth between the salesman and the cashier, inspecting and packlng clerks.

The object of myinvention is to provide facilities by means of which a salesman can cause a suitable car for carrying the article to be conveyed to traverse a taut wire in either direction at pleasure.

To attain this object my improved system consists in one or more wires radiatingrfrom a point to which all the articles and cash have to be sent to oneor more salesmen in different parts of a store, to whom the articles and change have to be returned, the wires havingtheir ends nearest the point to which they all tend secured to a fixed support, and their ends nearest the different'salesmen secured to slides mounted inways or on rods, so as to be readily moved up or down, according to the direc tion in which the car is to travel, by means of suitable cords or the-like, as hereinafter fully described. i

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is l a plan showing my improved system as applied to a store, and Fig. 2 is a side elevation, showing the arrangementof one of the wires of the system and the means for properly adjusting the one movable end to cause the car ,to travel in either direction.

A represents the point to which all cash and goods sold must be sent, and B the salesmen s counters, to which the goods and change must be returned.

Wires C are stretched taut between slides c,

. mounted in Ways, or in a guide, 0, near each salesmans counter, and a fixed support, 0", near the point A, and each wife has its own car, H, and suitable arresting-stops, h, near each end.

The fixed support c'- may be arranged to suit bracket fixed to the wall or other suitable support when the point A is at one end of a store, or it will be secured to an arm secured to and extending down from the ceiling when the point A is not near the wall.

. Each wireO is secured at its end, near the salesman-counter, to a slide, a, movable up .and down on a guide, 0, which is fastened to a suitable support, 0 The guides, when the wire is comparatively short, are curved to a radius equal to the length of the wire. I

The slides may be provided with a frictionspring to hold them at any point on the guides or they may be provided with catches to "retain them at the highestand lowest points of the guides; or they may be so mounted as to fall by gravity when left free, so as to keep' A. A cord, D, is suspended from the slide 0,

and enables the salesman to lower the slide, and thereby reverse the incline of the wire and cause the car to travel by gravity to his counter.

'The advantages arising from my improved arrangement of wires in a store-service system are that the least possible space is taken up by the tracks; each salesmanhas his car entirely under his own control; the incline of the wire can be regulated from his end only, and the cashier or inspector is relieved from all care and trouble in returning the car and its contents to the salesman.

I am aware that two tracks inclined in opposite directions have been employed in stores; I

but this, besides occupying double the space, necessitated the shifting of the car from one track to the other. I am also aware that a wire-rope way has been used in which a car was made to travel either way by gravity by inclining the way in the proper direction by simultaneously moving both ends in opposite directions. I therefore disclaim all inclined ways in which two tracks are used, and in 2 assess I Q which both ends of the track must be moved I ends fixed and its other end adapted to be in opposite directions. i raised and lowered, in combination with a car j In practice the guide 0 is most frequently adapted to travel by gravity, and arresting- Secured to the wall, instead of to a standard, stops, one near each end of each wire, sub- 5 0 as shown. stantially as set forth.

I claim as my invention The improved store-service system hereinbe- GILBERT RUGGLES ELLIOTT.

fore described, consisting of one or more wires Witnesses: extending from a cashiers desk to one or more B. MAYNADIER, IO saleslnens counters, each having one of its 1 JOHN R. SNOW; 

